Brains Matter

By Brains Matter

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Stories on science, curiosities, and general knowledge

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173 – Assoc Prof Brad Carter – Space Weather

In today’s episode, I speak to Associate Professor Brad Carter from the University of Southern Queensland about Space Weather. What is it? How do we measure it? And what does it mean for the formation of life? Download MP3 of Ep 173 This episode is

In today’s episode, I speak to Dr Lisa Harvey-Smith from the CSIRO, about the Square Kilometre Array project. – What is the the Square Kilometre Array Project? – The results of the decision on where to host the project – What are t

During the Astronomical Society of Australia conference, I went and visited the Poster Sessions where students showcased their research. In today’s episode, I speak to Sarah Bruzzese, one of the poster session presenters. Download MP3 of Ep 171 This epi

During the Astronomical Society of Australia conference, I went and visited the Poster Sessions where students showcased their research. In today’s episode, I speak to Sarah Sweet, one of the poster session presenters. Download MP3 of Ep 170 This ep

169 – Dr Charley Lineweaver – The Birth, Life, and Death of our Planet… and the Universe

The following recording is of the 2013 Astronomical Society of Australia’s Harley Wood Lecture, hosted by the Monash Centre for Astrophysics. People, planets, stars, and even universes are born, they live for a while, and then die. Associate Profess

In today’s episode, I talk to Matthew Witkowski, a PhD student at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute in Melbourne, on his research into the relationship between the Ikaros Gene and Leukemia. We discuss: – Matt’s background – A def

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the classic science fiction show, Doctor Who. I spoke to actor and comedian (and honourary 10th Time Lord) Rob Lloyd, also known as the Number 1 Doctor Who fan in the world, about the show. This is the second part o

Something a bit different for this episode – this year marks the 50th anniversary of the classic science fiction show, Doctor Who. I spoke to actor and comedian (and honourary 10th Time Lord) Rob Lloyd, also known as the Number 1 Doctor Who fan in t

In today’s episode, I talk to Dr Michael Brown from Monash University about the peer review process in science. We talk about: – What the Peer Review Process is – How the Peer Review Process helps – The issues with Peer Review &#82

This episode is part 2 of 2, of a talk given by Sir Paul Nurse, who is President of The Royal Society in the UK, and the Nobel Laureate in Medicine or Physiology for 2001, on the wonder of science and how it enhances our culture and civilisation. He also

This episode is part 1 of 2, of a talk given by Sir Paul Nurse, who is President of The Royal Society in the UK, and the Nobel Laureate in Medicine or Physiology for 2001, on the wonder of science and how it enhances our culture and civilisation. He also

In today’s episode, I talk to Dr Michael Brown from Monash University about the mis-use of statistics in the public sphere, and specifically, about the American National Rifle Associations misrepresentations of data. We talk about: – The Austr

In today’s episode, I talk to Sir Harold Kroto, who shared the 1996 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for the co-discovery of carbon-60, or Buckminsterfullerine. We continue the discussion from episode 160, and talk about – Stereotypes of scientists –

In today’s episode, I talk to Sir Harold Kroto, who shared the 1996 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for the co-discovery of carbon-60, or Buckminsterfullerine. He talked to me about the discover of carbon-60, as well as the state of science in the UK and

Today’s episode is part 3 of a 3 part series called “Where is my flying car?” organised and hosted by the University of Melbourne’s Physics Students Society. This final episode in this series primarily includes audience questions – some of the a

Today’s episode is part 2 of a 3 part series called “Where is my flying car?” organised and hosted by the University of Melbourne’s Physics Students Society. Hosted by Dr Roger Rassool, panel members included: Dr Andi Horvath, Museum Victoria, Dr

Today’s episode is part 1 of a 3 part series called “Where is my flying car?” organised and hosted by the University of Melbourne’s Physics Students Society. Hosted by Dr Roger Rassool, panel members included: Dr Andi Horvath, Muse

There can be few questions more fundamental for a scientist’s research to address than “Is our home here on Earth unique? Or ubiquitous?” Astronomers involved in the search for – and the study of – extra-solar planets are for

In 1998, two teams traced back the expansion of the universe over billions of years and discovered that it was accelerating, a startling discovery that suggests that more than 70% of the cosmos is contained in a previously unknown form of matter, called D

In today’s episode, I speak to Alom Shaha, a science teacher and communicator from the UK. Alom has worked on television shows researching science, and is well known in science communication circles. He recently published a book called The Young Ath

In today’s episode, I talk to Dr Duncan Galloway, ARC Future Fellow at Monash University. His interest is in Neutron Star Binaries and I talked to him about this: – Duncan’s background – What is a neutron star? – How big is a

In today’s episode, I talk to Brains Matter regular, Dr Corin Storkey, from the Heart Research Centre in Sydney. He talks to us about new research into a type of sugar that could prevent heart disease! We talk about: – the patent that has been

In today’s episode, I talk to Dr Robyn Pickering from the University of Melbourne, with an update on the status of research regarding the discovery of Australopithecus Sedeba. Topics discussed include: – the age of the Australopithecus Sedeba

Professor Brian Schmidt won the Nobel Prize for physics for 2011, for his work in helping discover that the universe was accelerating in it’s expansion, which came as a huge surprise to the whole astronomical community. I spoke to Brian about his wo

In this episode, I talk to Kellie Caught, Head of Climate Change for WWF Australia, about the Say Yes Campaign. Topics discussed include: – Kellie’s background – The background of the carbon price in Australia and worldwide – Kyoto

In this episode, I speak to Michael Roache, the Program Manager for Threatened Species at the World Wildlife Fund – Australia. He spoke to me about: – Michael’s background – National Threatened Species Day – How many threaten

In today’s show, I speak to Marita Cheng, the founder of Robogals. Topics we discuss include: – Marita’s background – What inspired her to go into engineering? – How did Robogals get started? – What are the aims of Robo

Today’s episode is a 5 year celebration of the podcast – Listener feedback for the five year anniversary – The five year anniversary competition winner A discussion on science and society at the Brains Matter 5 year celebration where we

In today’s episode, I speak to Dr Rosemary Mardling from Monash University on the 3-body problem and the n-body problem. – What is the 3-body problem? How does it relate to astronomy? – How was it worked out in the early days? – Wh

In this episode, I talk to Dr Owen Carter, Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Behavioural Research in Cancer Control at Curtin University, on the topic of childhood obesity and the perceptions that surround it – some of the reality based on th

This episode is the audio from the National Science Week live show recorded at the Monash Science Centre. You can download the presentation and the lyrics to the song at the Brains Matter web site. A live audience enjoyed hearing from the range of guests

Professor Richard Wassersug is from the Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology from Dalhousie University in Canada. He is also a prostate cancer survivor, and I talked to him about his personal and academic interest in issues around prostate cancer, inclu

In this episode I speak again to Dr Rosemary Mardling from Monash University with an update on extra solar planets – What kind of planets are being discovered? – The HARPS spectrograph and its capability – The radial velocity method &#82

In this episode, I speak to science writer Stephen Luntz. He talked to me about his interests, career, and his book Forensics, Fossils and Fruitbats Today’s listener of the episode is Eliska Jeffrey Download MP3 of Ep 140 You can donate by clicking

In this episode, I talk to Dr Michael Brown, the ARC Future Fellow from Monash University, who has been doing work on the planned surveys with the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder. He talked to the podcast about the Square Kilometre Array. Top

Professor Ray Jayawardhana is the Canada Research Chair in Observational Astrophysics and the Steacie Fellow at the University of Toronto. He has just written a book called Strange New Worlds: The Search for Alien Planets and Life beyond Our Solar System,

Professor Lawrence Krauss is the author of “The Physics of Star Trek”, a professor of physics, the Foundation Professor of the School of Earth and Space Exploration and the Director of the Origins Project at the Arizona State University. I was

Today is the 50th anniversary of Yuri Gargarin’s first venture into outer space. Marion Anderson, a planetary geologist from Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, presented a talk on the history and future of Manned Space Flight. Download MP3 o

I talk to Professor Claude Roux from the Centre for Forensic Science at the University of Technology Sydney about forensics and how it is used. Topics we discuss include: – The type of research Claude is interested in – Finger printing –

Why do people lie? And how easy is it to determine if people are being truthful or not? I talk to Dr Helen Paterson and Sadhana Raju in relation to these topics. We discuss: – What is a lie? – Why do people lie? – Is there an advantage t

Professor Ralph Pudritz is the Director of the Origins Institute at McMaster University in Canada, and presented a talk entitled “From First Stars to First Life” at Monash University, Australia. The following podcast is a recording of that pre

Customer Reviews

Mental Sustenance

by
KennySteven

Brains Matter is a prime example of the appeal of podcasting. Here is a straightforward program, unfettered by hype, commercials or pandering to the lowest common denominator. Rather, Brains Matter unapologetically offers to feed the brain with interesting tidbits about the world in which we live. Even when addressing such difficult topics as astrophysics, the show is designed to educate and intrigue the layperson. That certainly descibes me, as my background is in the liberal arts. I learn something new with every episode and every interview, and I look forward to each one. Highly recommended.

Wonderful

by
chelseagirl19

I do so enjoy this podcast, and have since the get-go, but the Pamela Gay episode was wonderful. This podcast really is the best that podcasting has to offer... just a curious guy with the desire to share his curiosity with the rest of us. And I really, really appreciate it. I hope more people can discover this (forgive my hyperbole) gem of a podcast.

Brains really DO matter!

by
DColanduno

One of those gems in podcasting, packed with content in a very short show. If you enjoy learning about cool, intelligent, and fun facts you NEED to tune in!